Residents in Grovetown and Harlem can head to the polls today to vote to elect leaders in their respective cities.

On the non-partisan ballot are three people vying for two open seats on the Grovetown City Council currently occupied by Lee Briggs and Bruce Stoddard.

Briggs is a John Deere operations manager. He was appointed to fill the more than four months remaining of former Councilman Sonny McDowell’s term. Briggs is seeking a full term. Stoddard, who has served 12 years on the council, is not seeking reelection.

Columbia County sheriff’s investigators suspect the driver who killed a 14-year-old Evans boy Thursday, was distracted by his cell phone when he veered off of Hardy McManus Road and plowed into the boy on a go-kart.

Tyler J. Smith, 14, was pronounced dead at 12:16 p.m. at Georgia Regents Medical Center, where he had been airlift after the crash, according to Columbia County Coroner Vernon Collins.

Harlem authorities arrested four people this week for selling methamphetamine.

Harlem Police Depart-ment Chief Gary Jones said a vehicle was pulled over just after 3 a.m. Sept. 29 for a tag light violation on E. Milledgeville Road at the Jet Food Store. The occupants – Drew Lynne Grossman, 33, and Jon Brandon Gibbs, 27 – gave officers different stories. Officers discovered and seized 14.6 grams of methamphetamine, more than an ounce of marijuana, two handguns and an undisclosed amount of cash from the vehicle.

County Administrator Scott Johnson said Harmon resigned Tuesday. He will be on leave until Oct. 15, Johnson said.

“As a result of our restructuring of departments with an emphasis on how we deal with development, we’ve had a change in philosophy on how we approached those issues,” Johnson said. “We had a meeting Tuesday with Richard on several items and (his resignation) was a result of that meeting.”

Harlem authorities arrested four people this week for selling methamphetamine.

Harlem Police Department Chief Gary Jones said a vehicle was pulled over just after 3 a.m. Sept. 29 for a tag light violation on E. Milledgeville Road at the Jet Food Store. The occupants – Drew Lynne Grossman, 33, and Jon Brandon Gibbs, 27 – gave officers different stories. Officers discovered and seized 14.6 grams of methamphetamine, more than an ounce of marijuana, two handguns and an undisclosed amount of cash from the vehicle.

Alexander Smith, 22, died after he put a gun into his mouth and fired while in his vehicle. The 3-year military veteran who served in the war in Iraq was pronounced dead at the scene at Commerce Drive, just before noon, according to Columbia County Deputy Coroner Harriett Garrison.

An autopsy performed at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Crime Lab in Atlanta Wednesday determined that Smith died from a gunshot wound to the head, Garrison said.

A Columbia County jury acquitted a former 4-H employee accused of sexually molesting a 15-year-old girl.

The jury returned a not guilty verdict on Wednesday for Jennifer Gayle Davenport, 27, of Augusta. She was charged with aggravated sexual battery and aggravated child molestation.

"She has been around thousands of young women and young men," Davenport's attorney, Lynn Akeley-Alderman, said in her closing arguments of the longtime 4-H volunteer and former program assistant in Columbia County.